Shattered

A Little change in Peridot's routine

A well-organized life. That's all she ever had wished for. A normal, well-organized life where she knows everything and is able to predict what will happen thanks to a fixed routine and to fully control her environment. That's Peridot's ideal life.

This ideal may be the reason why Peridot is highly intolerant to changement. And another consequence is the immense amount of time she took to decide to test the new coffee shop in the city, and the even longer time she spent pushing away the time when she should go there. Now, this "new" coffee shop has been here for a few months already, and since the holidays are soon over, Steven has to stay home with Pearl homeschooling him, since she always wants him to be a little more advanced than the other children of his age.

As a direct consequence of Peridot's own irrational hesitation, she has now to go alone to a place she doesn't know who is already quite popular by now, which means that there will be people. This is totally stupid to shiver only at the thought of being on her own surrounded by everyone else looking at her and talking about her behind her back, but unlike her boss and the person she admires the most, Peridot doesn't manage to reach perfection.

And this fear leads her to the present moment, as she wanders around the coffee shop with no real reason other than trying to look busy as she hesitates between coming in, taking her drink and get out as fast as possible, and running back home and rewatching Camp Pining Heart, warped in her blanket and swaying back and forth.

"C'mon Peridot, you useless clod... You came at an hour when there is nobody especially for that..." She grunts between her teeths as passes a hand in her messy and short blonde hair, then she finally walks in.

She raises her eyes to look at the people inside. Indeed; there are not many people since she took care to verify at which hours there are less people here to know when she'll be safer. There are so few people that there is only one person at the bar for now. She can see them from the corner of her eyes and tries to ignore the insistent gaze they seem to give her. After a few seconds, she decided that she would sit down in the dark corner, at a single table near a high chair. Then, she finally manages to turn to the bartender to realize that... they weren't staring at her at all.

The said bartender is a young woman, around Peridot's age, or a bit older, who must be between 185 and 190 centimeters, with a thin body and a very graceful figure under her work clothes. She has matted skin, as well as dark blue eyes with what seems to be golden shades, and ocean colored short hair, a bit messy. She quietly looks at the people in the street behind the glass, showing a slightly sad and melancholic expression. Peridot looks at her a few seconds before realizing what she is doing and looking away quickly, feeling her cheeks getting warmer as she adjusts her round glasses nervously. Damn new things.

She finally decides to walk to the bar. The bartender finally notices her and a little smile appears on her face as she greets Peridot with a smooth and delicate voice:

"Good afternoon, miss. What would you like to order?"

"Arm... Erm..." Peridot stutters, having totally not thought about what to take before coming to the bartender. Urrgh! She hates new things.

"Here's the menu if you need it. Take your time, don't worry." The girl gives her a menu gently and then starts to look outside again, lost in her thoughts.

Peridot grumbles a "wow thanks" and then climbs on a high stool next to her and reads the menu. Why does she barely know any of these coffees? Even some classics are unknown to her. Well, she heard the names of those coffees, of course, but she has no idea of what they are made of. As she stares at the names of the classic coffees, as if their exact molecular composition was written right behind their names, she realizes that a few minutes have already passed. Gosh she should really hurry up now, she's going to be considered a weirdo.